The Fountain Hills High School girls basketball team’s last game of 2019 was a nail-biter that came down to the last seconds.

The Lady Falcons hosted Payson at home for the final game of the year, with FHHS going on to win by a final score of 50-42.

Tomorrow, Jan. 2, the Lady Falcons will participate in the Chandler Prep Invitational.

The team will return to the regular season on Tuesday, Jan. 7, with a home game against San Tan Foothills starting at 5:30 p.m.

Head coach Mandy Baca said she was initially happy with the way her team performed in their game against Payson.

“I thought we played with more intensity than I've seen in prior games,” Baca said. “Our offense flowed well in the first two quarters, but we came out flat after the half.”

Baca was particularly happy with the team’s defense, an area of the game that she made some changes to this season.

“The girls really rotated the defense well for two quarters and our rebounding was strong,” she said. “But we need to work on cleaning up our passes so that we don't turn the ball over so much. That is what is killing us.”

This tendency to turn over the ball is what got the Lady Falcons into a little bit of a jam in the fourth quarter.

“The team’s lack of composure in the fourth quarter led to unforced turnovers that Payson put in for points,” Baca said. That led to them making a comeback.”

Luckily, FHHS was able to stop Payson before they caught too much momentum.